Anyobdy in Washington DC right now for Clayton's seminar? How is it? I wish I could have gone, but I've got 2 other gigs this week/weekend, which made it impossible for me.

Let us know! I know Matt Furey and Peter Stone are there. Who else? Thoughts?

Post edited by Primoquest

I saw the attendees list...

John Carlton
David Deutch
Brad Pedersen
Kent Kommae
Paris Lampropolis
Carline Cole

How'd everyone else get the attendee list?!

haha. I went, got like 7 hrs of sleep the whole time and it was the best experience EVER.

By the way. Everything everyone has said about Peter Stone is a complete and total understatement. Seriously. As soon as I introduced myself, he was really nice, started pointing out people in the crowd that would help my career... next day, "did you meet everyone you needed to meet?"... and a nice conversation when he was "tired" that was very revealing

Clayton Makepeace is the most down to earth, approachable "guru" I've ever met. Awesome guy. I was the first one there on thursday morning, and I didn't even recognize him but he came up to ME and shook my hand "are you ready to register?" I was just blown away by the high caliber of this guy. Amazing, well worth going.

His wife, Wendy, was just as incredible, she gave me a lot of help before I went getting my stuff together for a volume they put together about the attending copywriters - and I didn't have everything to her before the deadline and she filled in the rest - actually jumped on the net and googled me and snatched my info off my christthroughme.com site.

Over deliver is the understatement of the year for this seminar.

Met Matt Furey (I'll let Peter Stone tell you about their antics), the man who got me interested in Marketing. Amazing guy, didn't get to talk to him much, but talked a lot with Sean Furey, his brother and an accomplished marketer in his own right. Awesome guy.

I didn't win the "grand prize" for the copywriting challenge. *boo hoo* Won a quick-crit - learned how important the theme is. The guys who did win it and the "second prize" were awesome... and live in the same state as me. Prolly thought I was weird though

I'm just gettin started too. Met a ton of people.

John Carlton was smaller than I expected... same with Makepeace... I guess just judging from their writing I expected em to be bigger, haha.

It was incredible. Incredible. The Goodie bag alone was overdeliver. I got three books on copywriting now! WOOT!

I have a feeling they're going to repeat this again next year. I only have one thing to say:

GO!

Word.

P.S. Congrats to Eileen Coale (hope I spelled that right!) she won a quick crit too I believe. It was really cool to meet someone from this board.

Caleb is being a little modest. Yeah, we won a Quik Crit, but it's not just a Quik Crit, it's an Honorable Mention. We had another Copywriter's board member win, too -- Cho Cho, who mostly lurks, but is one absolutely on-the-ball and charming lady in person. So Caleb, this means we are award winning copywriters! Clayton said he expects to be calling us Honorable Mention winners to help him with his overflow in the coming months.

I don't think I got much more sleep than you, Caleb! My brain was ready to explode after day 1. Met Peter Stone, he's a real sweetie, I just wish we'd had more time to gab!

Tremendous event. Don't miss it next year, y'all.

Word.

I didn't mention that, but I was chatting with him after the banquet on that night (and after his 17 vodkas ) and he was explaining that all he had been doing for the preceding months to preparing for this seminar was turning away clients... and... there was gonna be a lot of work in el futuro.

Caleb and Eileen,

AWESOME TESTIMONIALS!

I was hoping Clayton would do this one more time.

I wanted to go this year, but my timing was totally off.

Definitely will see you folks next year...

Thanks for the comments and testimonials!

Rave. Rave. And Rave again. This seminar was everything Clayton promised and more.

Clayton totally delivered the goods. He covered direct response copywriting in such meticulous detail that my head threatened to explode (but in a good way). The content was so information-dense, people were afraid to leave the room to pee for fear they’d miss his next gem. (I know this from rest-room chit-chat!) Even a big-name copywriter across the aisle from me was typing so fast and furiously his fingers practically melted the keyboard.

And speaking of big name copywriters – how do names like Stone, Carlton, Lampropoulos, Deutsch, Komae, and Cole grab ya? If you’re an aspiring six-figure copywriter they should grab ya pretty good.

Because each one of them was friendly, accessible and willing to share their expertise and knowledge with those of us peon aspirants. And better yet was getting to know these folks on a personal as well as a professional level. Even if they weren’t such great writers, they are all interesting people you’d want to hang out with. If you ever get a chance to meet Peter Stone, be sure to carve out some chat time – he’s a fascinating, extremely cool person.

(By the way – that stuff about John Carlton being a curmudgeon? Soooo not true. He is a very funny guy with a cute smile. And now he is...EXPOSED!!!)

I made lots of contacts, several of which I'm pretty sure will extend into working relationships. Many of the marketers there weren't at all shy about saying straight up that they were looking for writers. And they weren't offering freebie spec assignments, either.

Making contacts with my fellow writers was also wonderful. As a full-time freelancer who gets all my clients from the web, I don’t get out much. So it was great to meet some of the very capable and wonderful people who I only know as names here (Thanks for the props, Eileen! You’re pretty cool yourself!). For those of us who work virtually, the isolation can make you a little stir-crazy, and it helps to have writer-friends who understand your particular brand of insanity.

As for our Fearless Leader: Apart from being brilliant, Clayton Makepeace is utterly unassuming and totally free of BS. You couldn’t ask to spend time with a nicer and more knowledgeable guy. (I can even forgive him his NRA membership.) And his wife, Wendy, ran the entire event from start to finish without a single hitch. As a former event manager I can tell you, my friends, that is NOT easy to pull off. And Wendy did it with effortless charm and a devastating smile the entire time. Definitely an impressive biker chick.

When Clayton does this again, I will most definitely be going. I would highly recommend anyone who takes this profession seriously do the same. It ain’t cheap, but it’s worth every battered, grubby, lint-covered penny under your sofa cushions.

And bring an extra suitcase. You’ll need one to haul all your schwag home...

Hey Chocho -- great testimonial! Can I use it? And if so, may I have your real name? Drop me a line at Summit@Makepeacetotalpackage.com?

Thanks!

-- Clayton

(In my best Keanu Reeves impression upon seeing Makepeace's first post) "Whoa"